Death's Pale Shadow
by Jargonelle
Summary: One shot: When Ryou Bakura was six, Death rejected him, left him alive, but not living. Then came a tangible sign of a promise the golden ring which symbolised a contract between Bakura and Death until they were one. A contract that could not be broken.


Death's Pale Shadow by Jargonelle  
  
Exam results are out tomorrow! So instead of going out and enjoying possibly my last few hours of happiness, I decided to write a nice depressing little fic.  
  
Anyway, just to clear one little thing up - Death is not Yami Bakura, Death is death. The only reason it is capitalised most times is because of Bakura's immense respect for the afterlife.  
  
Thank you to all who reviewed my other stories here on FF.net as well as all of you who reviewed by email. They really meant a lot to me. Thanks.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh and am making no money from this story.  
  
--------------  
  
Yami Yugi and the court of his ancient, royal household were right to fear the Shadow Realm. Through their own continued rituals, they had managed to lock it away from mortal reality until its power had grown so great that the only way to keep it at bay was to forge the Millennium Items and sacrifice the Pharaoh's body to the Puzzle.  
  
For as long as the Pharaoh's spirit existed, the Shadow Realm would not directly harm the people of Earth.  
  
`  
  
When Ryou Bakura was six years old, Death rejected him. It took his mother, it took his sister, but it left him, alive but not living. Death left its mark upon him though, his baby-blond hair that should have darkened with age turned whiter, his skin never tanned past its unnatural pallor and he grew ever more introvert until he would barely speak to anyone, despite his longing for companionship.  
  
And then came the tangible sign of a promise, of an unspoken agreement between them - the golden ring that bound Bakura and Death until they were one.  
  
For with Bakura's paleness came his purity, his simplicity, if you will, since innocence is too symbolic a word. He was a white, blank page that Death wrote all over with its ramblings and promises, those which did not taint him but merely ensnared him, captivating his thoughts, his spirit, his soul.  
  
The Ring, a Millennium Item that was as old as civilisation itself, was merely a child in the eyes of Death. It sought to control Death's Bakura, to win him back to the world of the living with its incessant greed, hate and quest for immortality. Bakura was not interested however in such earthly concerns, and he turned his attention to the mystical. He wrote letters to the dead, believing that they went unanswered since those passed on were in such a state of happiness that they did not wish to be reminded of the pain of being alive. He tried to master reading patterns into the movement of the planets or the spread of the cards.  
  
The Ring's spirit, although he did not understand the thrall which his host was under, recognised the power of Death's magic and harnessed the fear it represented by basing his own Duel Monsters deck upon it. He was oblivious to the sweet song that Death whispered to his young landlord, but of course he would be - he was called 'Yami' after all.  
  
Death is not darkness. Death is overwhelming light.  
  
Bakura knew that he was not worthy of the eternal rest that Death offered to all those accepted into its kingdom. Not yet. He was being punished by having to live until his quest was fulfilled, until his side of the covenant he and Death had sworn all those years ago had been bound with his own blood.  
  
He had tried once, to escape his contract and die early, but his Yami had pulled him back from the brink of happiness, purged their body of its wounds and proved to Bakura once and for all that Death was something one had to earn. Bakura had been locked inside of his own mind, where he had pondered his fate and wondered whether he would be burdened with the torture of immortality, since in his own mind, he could not stick to Death's agreement.  
  
~  
  
Bakura did not know how he knew that he had a task to complete, a reason for living, as it was. It was just something at the core of his being, something that dominated all his thoughts, all his logic. He was afraid that he would fail in his efforts, because then what would happen? Death had not been merciful to him in the past.  
  
During the Duellist Kingdom tournament, to which Bakura had paid very little attention, he tried again to escape. He had begged Yugi to destroy him, to seal his soul in the Shadow Realm forever - but that would not have been Death. He wondered if the others had noticed that even more so than Tristan with his pitiful Cyber Commander, Bakura had chosen a soul card for himself that was self-destructive. Change of Heart only lasted one turn before being sent to the graveyard. If it would have hurt Yugi's conscience that much to have attacked him, then he could have just waited until Bakura had destroyed himself.  
  
At the very least, it was a wake-up call.  
  
One, Bakura was now aware that a spirit resided in Yugi's Millennium Puzzle and two, with his own parasite gone, Bakura had a chance to reassess his position. He still didn't know exactly what Death required of him, but it was definitely something to do with Yugi, as he felt an urgency around him that he hadn't felt since his own spark of life had flickered out.  
  
At the end of the tournament, Pegasus, whose own life had been touched by Death, was finally granted peace by Bakura's own hands. His Yami, who had returned by that point, had thought the plan was of his own devising, but Bakura knew him well and a few whispers of the power and the glory that could be achieved by claiming the Millennium Eye meant that his Yami did the work for him.  
  
/What would they think if they knew?/ Yami Bakura smirked, /They think I make your life hell, but you do that by yourself, don't you? I make your life easier. I am doing you a favour. You were just wasting this body anyway./  
  
Bakura didn't respond to the taunts, he never did. It was part of the way things were.  
  
~  
  
Life dragged on though and the only memorable flash in a blur of time was the Battle City tournament where Bakura came very close to achieving his ultimate goal. With his Yami fled to Yugi's Puzzle, like a rat from a sinking ship, a gigantic knife slash just shy of the vein in his wrist and his soul taken to another plane of existence, he was surprised as any when his body reformed, complete and whole after Malik surrendered the Millennium Rod.  
  
He was missing something though - the Ring that promised him Death, had been taken from him.  
  
It must have been Yugi. Yugi, who still hoped to save the world, whilst being too bloody innocent and too stubbornly naïve to realise that the world didn't want saving. Bakura didn't want saving. He wanted the security of the Ring. He wanted to figure out the reason for his continued existence and then he wanted to leave.  
  
So for the first time in a long while, Bakura was active enough to actually go and do something for himself, to take something for himself. Yugi and his followers were confused, concerned at Bakura's apparent subservience to the Ring's spirit. They wouldn't have known what to look for and even if they had, it would have been doubtful that they'd have noticed the change that came over Bakura as soon as the Ring's heavy chain slipped around his neck.  
  
He knew. He now knew what he had to do, what irritant had held him back all those years and how to eradicate it.  
  
And it was all thanks to Yami Yugi.  
  
~  
  
Whilst Yami Bakura had been housed temporarily in Yugi's mind, he had learnt a great deal. The Pharaoh still had huge gaps in his memory and it wasn't until after his journey into his memory world, to which Bakura had been denied access, that it all seemed to click into place.  
  
Something, somewhere had realised that the greatest threat to Yugi Muto was his quiet, shy, white-haired peer, who occasionally hung around with the group, but most of the time was off by himself.  
  
Yami Yugi wanted a body of his own, a life of his own. He was ambitious, he was used to getting his own way - a little thing like Death couldn't stop him.  
  
Which was where he had made his fatal mistake.  
  
How dare he think he was better than Death?  
  
Bakura had voluntarily retreated to his soul room whilst his Yami had entertained himself by breaking into a couple of local shops. It wasn't the hair care products or the energy-saving light bulbs that he wanted, but the thrill, the rush of being alive.  
  
Which was where he had made his fatal mistake.  
  
How dare he think he had the right to be alive? How dare he think he was better than Death?  
  
With his Yami distracted, Bakura felt safe to think about what he now knew.  
  
He thought he wanted Death. He thought that it was the whole damn point of everything, that it was the only reason that he had not allowed his Yami to take everything from him. He did not worry about finding out what happened in the end of the TV programmes he watched, he did not really care that he would be leaving people behind. Everyone ended up dead eventually anyway.  
  
But there was something.  
  
He had killed Pegasus, but that was different. Pegasus wanted to bring someone back to life, not realising that they would both be happy dead.  
  
Bakura wanted his own death, but he could see that life might be appealing to some people. Did he have the right to take it away?  
  
He must do. Otherwise Death would not have commissioned him to do this.  
  
He'd do it tomorrow, Bakura decided. He'd think about it until then and if he changed his mind. well, so be it.  
  
That decided, he turned his thoughts outwards to where his body was - good, back at home. His father was away but that didn't matter much. Bakura would leave a note.  
  
~  
  
Yami Bakura slept heavily - it would have been certain death for him if that had been the case whilst he had been a tomb raider whilst back in his old life, but being over 5,000 years old, he felt he was entitled to a little extra sleep. Besides, it meant Bakura had to do all the boring everyday chores like making breakfast, showering and generally getting up.  
  
Bakura took off the Ring to shower. He hadn't at first when it hadn't been permitted to him, but his Yami was now confident that Bakura would never want to leave him. Another example of his arrogance.  
  
Laying the Ring carefully out on his bed, Bakura had now come to the most potentially dangerous part of his plan. How to destroy it.  
  
It had lasted for millennia, outlasted some of the greatest wonders of the world.  
  
It was Bakura's destiny though and he prayed for inspiration, prayed desperately for help. He had come so far. he didn't want to lose all hope now.  
  
Death heard his plea it seemed and a power so strong as to awaken his Yami thrummed though his fingers.  
  
"Crush," he whispered, placing his right hand carefully over the eye that adorned the golden ring.  
  
It shattered. Completely. Instantly.  
  
His Yami surrendered to Death for good.  
  
~  
  
Death was pleased with him, Bakura thought happily. He had to go on - to rid the world of those who thought themselves above Death. Not those like Kaiba, whose contempt would fade as his mind withered away to nothing, but those sought to steal another's life in order to stave off their own mortality. There were only two that he knew of, his own Yami and Yami Yugi.  
  
There was only one place left to go.  
  
~  
  
"Bakura!" Yugi exclaimed, voice half way between surprise and suspicion, "What are you doing here?"  
  
Bakura looked around the street conspiratorially, before leaning in closer to Yugi. "I need to talk to you, you know. um. about." he gestured to the chain visible above the neckline of his sweatshirt, which Yugi assumed held the Millennium Ring.  
  
"Oh. OK. Of course, come in," Yugi said, leading the way up to his bedroom. "I don't want to disturb Grandpa this early."  
  
"That's kind of you."  
  
Yugi fished the Millennium Puzzle out from underneath his jacket once the door to his bedroom was closed. "Did you want to speak to the other me? He probably would be able to help you more than I would."  
  
"No, it was you I wanted to talk to," Bakura said, stepping slightly towards Yugi. He needed to get close enough to touch the Puzzle without arousing Yugi's suspicions any further. "I. I." he faltered.  
  
Yugi edged away slightly, "What's wrong Bakura?"  
  
"My father." he said. "He saw."  
  
"Saw what?" Yugi asked, yelling mentally for his Yami to wake up. Yugi knew for a fact that Bakura's father was supposed to be working abroad again for the next week at least.  
  
"Oh it doesn't matter," Bakura said, feeling frustrated that he obviously wasn't that good an actor. He grabbed for the chain around Yugi's neck and pulled the other boy close to him.  
  
"Bakura!" Yugi began to squeak but halfway through the name, his voice deepened, his hair spiked up more than usual, and his eye level finally reached Bakura's.  
  
"Crush," Bakura said softly, lying his palm flat against the puzzle.  
  
"No." Yami Yugi cried in shock, not wanting to see the black fire that burned behind Bakura's eyes or the momentary darkening of his hair. That was all he got a chance to see before the Puzzle blew to pieces and his soul was ripped from Yugi's body and dispersed into the kingdom of Death, where it belonged.  
  
Yugi flashed back into possession of his own body, a murderous fury clearly written all over his face. "What have you done Bakura? What the hell have you done?" Tears started falling from the violet eyes.  
  
"I had to. I'm sorry Yugi," Bakura said calmly. "It was the only way I could leave."  
  
"LEAVE WHAT?" Yugi yelled, forgetting about his promise not to disturb his Grandpa, "WHAT COULD BE IMPORTANT ENOUGH FOR YOU TO..." He couldn't finish.  
  
"Everything," Bakura answered simply. His eyes closed, his lips parted in a brilliant smile and he slumped forward, the dead weight of his body dragging Yugi down to the floor with him. Death had claimed him at last.  
  
Yugi pushed Bakura off him in shock, and scrambled for the door. He didn't make it though, as his legs wouldn't support his meagre weight and he ended up huddled in a corner, crying painfully. He didn't notice the sky darkening outside.  
  
~  
  
Bakura shivered. it was cold being dead. That was the only thing he felt though, which was better than the fear, shame and complete and utter loneliness that he had felt before. Perhaps, if he had felt warmth, loved or happy before, then this would have been hell, but he hadn't and this wasn't.  
  
He was calm.  
  
He was at peace.  
  
He was more alive than he had been in years.  
  
~  
  
Yami Yugi and the court of his ancient, royal household were right to fear the Shadow Realm. Through their own continued rituals, they had managed to lock it away from mortal reality until its power had grown so great that the only way to keep it at bay was to forge the Millennium Items and sacrifice the Pharaoh's body to the Puzzle.  
  
For as long as the Pharaoh's spirit existed, the Shadow Realm would not directly harm the people of Earth.  
  
The Shadow Realm, though not strictly an entity, was inhabited by the worst of the worst and they would stop at nothing to break the Pharaoh's soul and recapture the Earth as their own.  
  
Including enslaving Ryou Bakura. His mind had been theirs from the beginning.  
  
THE END  
  
A/N: This is definitely not how I figured this story would end (well, I had the deaths planned but that was about all) so any comments you have would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading, Jargonelle. 


End file.
